


Not According To Plan

by Froody



Series: Froody’s Story Requests [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cluster decided it wanted to be part of the movie, Gen, i still suck at titles and summaries oof, i tried to fix it but couldn’t hhhhh, sorry if the ending is meeehhh and ehhhh, this wasn’t originally going to be in AO3 but then it ended up being really long
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:07:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21978565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Froody/pseuds/Froody
Summary: Everything was playing out exactly like she had imagined, but then the ground began to shake and crack open.Canon divergence story request from Tumblr.
Series: Froody’s Story Requests [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1582090
Kudos: 37





	Not According To Plan

**Author's Note:**

> This was requested by an anon over at my Tumblr (Froodyie)! The request was for the Cluster to destroy Spinel’s Injector! 
> 
> Reviews and constructive criticism is highly appreciated :)

Hot-searing pain was the only thing he could focus on the second her foot made contact with his face. He didn’t even realize the impact had thrown him off his feet until his back hit the grass floor and he opened his eyes to see the gems standing over him with their weapons out.

“I just _loove_ that part!!” His attacker sneered in a mocking manner, before throwing her head back to let out a maniacal laugh. “Ya wanna know which one? It’s the one where Pink Diamond spends the rest of her days in this nowhere planet with a bunch of **_NOBODIES!_ **” 

As she said this, her arms stretched themselves into springs, ready to launch herself—

The ground began to shake of all a sudden. 

“What’s happening **_now?!_ **” Steven exclaimed in frustration. He grabbed hold a fistful of grass, clutching onto it as if his whole life depended on it, and stayed low to the ground. 

“I-I don’t know!!” Amethyst responded as she tumbled down. 

Pearl followed her shortly after. 

Garnet was the only one who still kept her stand. 

“Whatever it is,” the fusion began, “It isn’t coming from her. Look!” 

The unknown gem was struggling just like them to keep her balance. She wobbled around, arms outstretched in wiggling zigzags, until her foot slipped off from the Injector’s metal platform and she fell. The second that happened, the ground opened up from beneath and a large, graying, multicolored hand protruded out from it. They watched in shock as it grabbed the Injector, utterly crushing it in its tight grip before pulling it down.

“A-Are we all seeing the same thing!?” Amethyst exclaimed, breaking the silence.

Pearl nodded her head, furiously, and began to stutter, “I-No—I mean _yes_! T-The Cluster!! B-But w-why!?” 

Their eyes were all focus on the Cluster, except for Steven’s. His were settled on a small figure in the midst of the uproar. It was the same one who seconds before had lost her footing and fell. The very same one that had come threatening his home and family, and a minute before had kicked him square in the face. From where he was, he could see her struggling to lift herself up to safety. Her panic-stricken eyes glanced behind her and he saw the moment the horrifying realization of the Cluster easily plucking her off dawning on her. 

That sudden look of pure, raw terror is what woke him up and before he knew it, he was pushing himself off the ground, standing up despite the constant shaking. 

“Who cares about the why!?” He found himself crying out before running. 

He heard the others shout at him, calling him to come back, but he ignored them. At this very moment, he was only focused on one thing and one thing only: _to save this gem._

  
  
  


Through clenched teeth, her fingers dug deep into the soil, as she desperately tried to lift her shaken body up but to no avail. The ball of despair gnawing her insides grew only further because of this futile attempt, and the only thing she could do now was look over her shoulder for a second time and fully view what awaited her: her impending doom. 

She swallowed hard. 

The giant hand was gone (phew!) but that still didn’t mean she was getting out of this. A large sea of hot, red lava, mixed with the biopoison and the ruins of her Injector, greeted her in its stead. 

She looked back at her struggling fingers. 

“Oh, you really got yourself in a pickle, gal!” She nervously laughed to herself. “There’s no denying this is the end for ya! What did you accomplish? NOTHING, YA LOSER!! You fell for a horrible trick, wasted 6,000 years in a rotten garden, and are going to melt away since you failed to enact your revenge! Sad and petty! You can’t get anything right!” 

She stopped and looked back down. This time with a thoughtful gaze. 

“Yet...isn’t this just wonderfully fitting? Letting myself go would mean I won’t have to hurt anymore...All that pain caused by _her_ would be gone…” 

Her fingers loosened up a bit. Whatever fright she felt began to slowly diminished. The burnt sienna colored concoction of the lava and poison flowing underneath her now looked bewitching and inviting. 

“If I let go, the pain will be gone—memories of Pink will be gone! I’ll be gone! No one will know—“ She stopped, realizing something. “N-No one will know what happened. _They_ won’t know what happened! They don’t even know who I am!”

She tightened her grip and began to attempt pulling herself up, while her ever-growing fury drowned out any other emotions residing in her. So blinded by hate that she failed to realize the protruding rock face she was holding onto was beginning to break away. She didn’t know until it fully gave in. For a split second she found herself floating in midair, before she began to slowly fall—

“GOT YOU—AHH!!”

“STEVEN!!!” 

Her right arm seemed to have come to a complete halt as someone grabbed a hold of it, but that didn’t stop it from stretching itself out like a wad of gum being pulled off concrete and she continued her descend down, until she got a hold of herself and threw her other arm up. She watched as a second hand grabbed that one and began pulling her up. 

“HOLY—HOW CAN A STICK LIKE HER BE THIS HEAVY!?” 

“SHUT UP AND JUST PULL OR WE’LL ALL FALL!!”

In a matter of seconds and a few tugs, she was out of harm’s way. The hands that held onto her and helped pull her up didn’t release their hold on her. It was almost as if they were afraid that she would fall back down the crack the second they let go. Surprisingly, she didn’t seem to care as she held on to them as well.

That is until she heard the voice of who they belonged to. 

“A-Are you alright?”

It was _him,_ Pink’s son, Mr. Steven Universe. The person who had saved her was the very same one she was planning (or actually, had planned) on killing today. Oh, the irony! Yet, she should’ve expected this, no? 

She roughly drew both of her hands back and landed a punch right to his face, specifically on his nose. With a satisfied smirk, she watched as he fell over, rolling on the floor till he stopped by the permafusion’s feet. 

“HEY! WHAT GIVES!!” The amethyst shouted, drawing out her whip. 

With a cackle, Spinel jumped over the small gem, pushing her down to the ground, face-first, before extending her arms out and pulling herself up the top of the lighthouse. From there, she watched as Steven sat up with his hand covering the lower half of his face. When he moved it away, she took note of the strange red liquid that was dripping out of his nose. Whatever it was, it brought a great deal of shockful horror glazing over his eyes. He then turned to look at her and for a second, she swore that she could see fear mingling in his gaze. 

She couldn’t help the smirk creeping on her lips upon seeing his face and she began to sneer, “Did ya really think savin’ my bum would be enough to have me packing my bags and leave? Well, I’m _not_ sorry to disappoint ya! It’s going to take more than that to get rid of me!!” 

“Spinel—“ Pearl began, but she quickly cut her off with a shake of her pointer finger. 

“Don’t even start with me, Pearlie! I know what you’re going to ask: _‘Oh, Spinel! Your Injector’s gone! Why don’t you just give up! You don’t have anything to fight us with anymore!’_ BLEGH! Injector’s gone, big deal! I won’t let that stop my plans! I have a special treat up my sleeves…” With that, she pulled a small item out of her glowing gem and without hesitation, pressed on the button to activate it. 

The Crystal Gems gaped as they saw the object turn into a scythe adorned with two long beams of pink energy as its blades and a pink gemstone at its tip, in between said beams. 

“I-Is that…” Garnet asked, gripping her hands tightly. 

“Oh, my stars... _It_ _is_ …” Pearl answered for her, her hand covering her mouth as she took a small step back.

“What is that thing?!” Amethyst asked, confused. “Pearl!!”

Before the gem could respond, a dark pink boot flew right past her heading towards Steven. The young boy was still trying to recover from Spinel’s earlier two punches that he failed to notice the incoming boot until it struck him on his chest. Once again, he found himself rolling over, but this time he was heading right towards the gap left by the giant hand, much to Spinel’s contentment which unfortunately only lasted for a few seconds since he was able to stop himself from falling over the edge. 

“Steven!!!” The gems cried out.

They were about to head his way to provide him aid when she finally decided to to hop off the lighthouse and blocked their way. 

“Nuh-uh!!” She giggled, swinging her scythe around, pushing them back. A disturbing malice beamed in her spiraled, magenta colored eyes. “Let’s play tag! I’m _it_.” 

  
  


Steven groaned in pain as he clutched at his aching chest, smearing some blood on his shirt in the process. Behind him, he heard the sounds of the fight: Amethyst’s whip cracking in the air, Garnet’s grunts as she delivered punches, Pearl’s constant warnings of “Don’t let her touch you!!”, and finally, Spinel’s taunting laughs and remarks.

“I’m highly disappointed on the lot of you! The Crystal Gems!! More like the Crystal _Losers_!! How did you fellas save the whole galaxy if ya can’t even bop off a simple, ol’ entertainer gem like me!” 

Steven pushed himself away from the edge and sat up, turning around just in time to see Amethyst running head on towards the gem. 

“Well, why don’t you stop dodging and start hitting!!!” She growled before throwing her whip.

The gem giggled as she hopped away, missing the attack by just an inch. “Ohoho! That sounds like a swell plan!! Let’s do it!!” 

It all happened too fast for Steven and the others to react. There was a mixed blur of different shades of pink, followed immediately by a faint glow and a large light purple cloud that disappeared into wisps as quickly as it appeared. The only thing that Steven had caught through the frenzy was the look of shock that passed through Amethyst’s face the second the scythe slashed through her midsection, literally cutting her in half. 

The last of the wisps were fanned away by Spinel as she stepped forward, holding Amethyst’s gem in her left hand. Chuckling, she tossed the gem up in the air a bit.

“One down!” She snickered before tossing the gem behind her like it was a piece of garbage and gripping her weapon tightly with both her hands. Steven swore a chill ran down his entire body when her spiraled eyes zeroed in on him. “ _Three_ more to go!!” 

What happened shortly after she said those words played in the same way as Amethyst’s defeat did and it ended just the same.

The blade cut through Garnet’s legs, slicing them off

 _Thud. Thud._

A ruby and sapphire laid on the grass. 

“Steven—“ 

Pearl was cut off by the blade slicing across her face. 

_Thud._

Her gem fell a few centimeters in front of him. 

When he looked at it, he was greeted with the reflection of his own face. He looked horrible. Utterly different than how he did this morning before he left for Homeworld. His hair was disheveled, there was a line of dry blood streaming down his nose, and tears were threatening to fall from his eyes. A single thought crossed his mind:

_‘How did we end up like this?’_

A pigtailed figure then appeared next to his reflection and he looked up to see Spinel looming over him with wicked, pleased glint in her eyes and her scythe still in hand. 

“Well, what do we have here?” She began. “The last one standing. The little gem-human hybrid who's the ‘Savior of the Galaxy’. The one and only, Steven Universe.” 

Without further ado, she kicked Pearl’s gem high in the air. When it was falling back down, she gave it another kick, but this time she was aiming for the lighthouse. Steven could do nothing but helplessly watch as the gem hit the hard wall with a loud “clank!” before falling in front of the door. 

Spinel cackled, “Golly! Whattta home run, am I right? Eh, I can’t believe Pink chose that bumbling yes-man over me! Too bad she ain’t here anymore.” She snuck a small glance at him through the corner of her eye. “I would’ve _loved_ to have seen her face the moment I _shattered_ her precious Pearl.”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!!!” Steven angrily bellowed, standing up all of a sudden. Enveloping both his fists in their own bubble, he threw a punch, aiming at her face. 

Unfortunately, she dodged it by hopping away. 

“My, my! All healed up from my attacks? That’s just swell! I was hoping you’d come through! Just saving the best for last, ya know!?”

“Who are you?! What do you want from _me_?! Why are you doing all this?!” He ranted with his hands still held in a fighting stance. “I saved your life back there!! The Cluster could’ve easily pulled you down with it!! I should’ve probably left you there!!” 

She giggled, unknowingly feeding his annoyance. “But you didn’t!” She taunted with a roll in her eyes. “And to answer your questions...well, let’s just say I'm a sore loser of a special game your dearest mama made for me.”

He flinched at the mention of his mother. Once again her actions had led another gem to his doorstep with a vindictive intent. He should’ve known that it had to be about her; every problem he ever faced always started with her. 

“W-What did she do?” He asked through gritted teeth. “What did she do to you!?” 

“ _WHAT DID SHE DO!? OH WHAT DID SHE DO!?_ LET ME THINK!” She tapped her chin with her fingers and leaned against her scythe with a thoughtful look on her face. All of a sudden, her pigtails rose up and her lips stretched into a wide smile as she finally found her answer. “OH, NOW I KNOW! SHE LEFT ME BEHIND FOR THIS STINKIN’ GIANT BALL OF DIRT! SHE THREW ME AWAY LIKE WHAT WE HAD WAS NOTHING!!” 

She pushed her face towards his and he was forced to fall down on his bottom.

“Tell me, Universe!! Do ya know how it feels like to have your feelings played with?! Anything you held so dear to your heart ever been squashed and thrown away?! Have you ever been left behind and forgotten?!”

He stuttered. “I-I…” 

“ _Exactly._ You don’t.”, she growled. His hesitation was all she needed. “Time’s ticking for me, pal, and I’m pretty sure you’re missing your friends already. Too bad you didn’t get to say your goodbyes! Don’t fret, though! You’ll be following them _NOW!!_ ”

“What?”

He wasn’t given a chance to react as the blade of her scythe came crashing down on him. 

A mixture of mild pain and a tingling sensation overtook his entire body the second that happened. Through his narrowed eyes, he was able to catch what appeared like glowing, pink lines marking his hands and feet. They reminded him of the cracks he’d seen on glass and on Amethyst’s gem that one time when he was younger. 

_‘Oh, God...Am I going to poof-‘_

His thoughts were cut off by his teeth chattering against each other and his whole body shaking like a vibrator. Once it concluded, the lines on his body were gone.

“Wha—I mean, uh-ha!” He proudly (and nervously) laughed with his hands on his hips. “That was nothing!”

The gem snickered, “Then I guess you won’t mind if I do it again!” 

“What—“

Before he knew it, she reassumed her previous assault on him, but with a little twist: she wasn’t holding back. Again and again, he was getting slashed by her scythe. The pain was stronger this time, literally causing his eyes to tear up; the cracks on his body had grown in numbers. 

Through it all, Spinel’s maniacal laughter pierced the air as she relished in this moment. It fueled the ball of anger he hadn't realized was growing inside of him until now. 

“CUT IT OUT!!” He exclaimed as he found the strength to stop the attack by grabbing her scythe. 

Unfortunately, she hadn’t been fazed by his sudden charge for she still maintained her grip on the scythe and that malicious smirk on her face had not wavered. 

Another laugh came from her and it took most of his willpower to hold back a nasty remark. 

“You don’t poof, do you? I should’ve expected that from a little freak of nature such as you,” she taunted, “Too bad my Injector isn’t here anymore. I would have loved to have seen what it would’ve done to your human half. Especially after what I’ve just done to your gem. Guess I’ll have to deal with that part myself!” 

“M-My gem?” He grunted. “What are you talking about?!”

A dark look glazed over her spiral-like eyes,

“You weren’t always a powerful hero, were you?” She said in a low voice with a giggle rumbling in her throat. 

She threw back her head to let out another raving laugh. It was one that would be her last as Steven took full control of the scythe and pushed her back. Quickly, he swung the weapon and struck. With a mild satisfaction that sickened him, he watched as half of her upper body began to slide down. Then he caught sight of her face and locked eyes with her. 

There was a malicious joy in them as if she was happy that she had been defeated.

It deeply disturbed him.

She dissolved into pink wisps and her heart-shaped gem landed on the grass with a loud “ _thud!_ ”. 

Now with the trouble gone, Steven let exhaustion take over him and fell onto his knees, letting go of the weapon. His whole body began to shake and the glowing lines on his skin quickly disappeared. When it concluded, he wiped away at the beads of sweat trailing down his forehead and focused his attention on her gem. 

He sighed.

“Better bubble you before anything else happens.”, he said, reaching out for it. 

Just one small tap with his finger and a pink bubble quickly formed around it.

A second had barely passed when it decided to pop and the gemstone fell back to the ground.

“What?” Steven said, taken aback. 

He tapped it again. Nothing happened. 

“W-Where’s my bubble?”

He picked up the gemstone and held it out before him before beginning another attempt to bubble her.

“Come on….” He grumbled through gritted teeth, eyes scrunched up. 

A bubble slowly began to form, but before it fully closed around the gem, it popped. 

Panting heavily, he falls to the ground on his stomach. 

Wearily, he raised himself up and ran a hand through his hair. 

“What’s going on…Wait…My gem! She said that she did something.”

He quickly sat up and lifted up his shirt.

A strange luster pulsating on the surface of his gem is what greeted him. 

“I…” His eyes focused on Spinel’s gem. “What did you to me?” 


End file.
